Talk Radio

by Eric BogosianCreated by Eric Bogosian and Ted Savinar

Directed by Phillip Ley

Evenings at 7.30Wednesday 27th February - Saturday 2nd March
and Tuesday 2nd - Saturday 9th March
Matinées at 3.00Saturdays 2nd and 9th March

At the Tower Theatre, Stoke Newington

Barry Champlain, Cleveland's controversial radio host is on the air doing what he does best : insulting the the pathetic souls who call in the middle of the night to sound off. Tomorrow, Barry's show is going into national syndication and his producer is afraid that Barry will say something to offend the sponsors. This of course, makes Barry even more audacious. Outrageous, off beat, moving, funny and totally entrancing.

It began as a collaboration between Eric Bogosian and Tad Savinar in 1985 with projections and live callers. Two years later, re-written by Eric Bogosian, it ran for four months with the writer playing the lead role and continued for another two months with Larry Pine as the central character. Only eighteen months after the play had opened in New York, Oliver Stone directed the film version which was greeted with critical acclaim.

A new adaptation opened on Broadway in March 2007 (some twenty years after its opening in New York) enabling Eric Bogosian to use what he had learnt while working on the film to groom and adrenalinise the play. He says "it looks the same, but it's different - that's the play you find here".